


your very own sun

by Miaou Jones (miaoujones)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cosmological Analogies, Gen, Kid Fic, Sibling Love, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-19
Updated: 2014-12-19
Packaged: 2018-03-02 04:57:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2800385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miaoujones/pseuds/Miaou%20Jones
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>the sun is low and the moon faint in the sky when they come home from the hospital. "akiteru," mom says when he runs over and opens the car door, "this is your brother, kei."</p>
            </blockquote>





	your very own sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bouenkyou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bouenkyou/gifts).



> Many thanks to strawberrylaugh and imsosrsly for reading this over. All remaining flaws, errors, and quirks are purely my own.

the night his baby brother comes, the moon is full. as round and full as mom's belly. as dad takes him to the next door neighbors, akiteru stretches the hand dad isn't holding towards the sky. he knows he can't touch the moon but that doesn't mean he shouldn't try, right? even if he could touch the moon, though, he knows it wouldn't touch him back, not like his brother does from inside mom when akiteru puts his hand on her round belly. 

he looks at the moon shining between and around his fingers. dad tugs at him to walk faster but even when akiteru drops his hand and looks down from the sky, it seems he's not fast enough because dad stops walking and lets go of akiteru's hand as he turns to him. akiteru opens his mouth to apologize before dad has to remind him this is not the time for fooling around—

air whooshes into his mouth, pushing out the words soundlessly as dad reaches for him and the ground falls away.

held up in the sky, not as high up as the moon but high enough that dad has to tilt his face up to look at him, akiteru gazes down solemnly.

"akiteru," dad says. he smiles. "the baby is coming, akiteru."

akiteru smiles too. "i know." 

dad swings him down from the sky to his hip and carries him the rest of the way to the neighbors' house. "we'll come get you when it's time to come home," he promises again, and then he's running back to their house. akiteru stands in the open doorway, watching dad help mom into the car and drive away. 

he stands there even when he can't see the car anymore. he can still see his house and for a moment he thinks about running to it. it's not like he thought he would be going with them to the hospital, but he didn't know he would have to come to the neighbors' house to wait. he wanted to be at home already when the baby came there for the first time. 

"come on, akiteru," the neighbor lady says, and akiteru looks up at her. she smiles, not the way his dad smiled when he picked up akiteru just now or the way his mom smiles whenever he asks if he can touch her moon-round belly. he doesn't think the neighbor lady cares if he smiles back or not so he doesn't, saving up his smiles for when mom and dad and the baby come home. 

as he thought, the neighbor lady doesn't say anything about his expression. "i'll show you where you can sleep tonight," she says. akiteru follows her to the guest room, where a futon has already been laid out for him. he climbs under the covers and says good night back to her. 

she turns off the light and closes the door behind her. it's not dark, though: the moon is shining into the room and akiteru doesn't feel alone. he gets out of bed and goes to look at it. he hopes there's a window in the room at the hospital, so the moon can watch over his baby brother as he comes into the world.

 

the sun is low and the moon faint in the sky when they come home. "akiteru," mom says when he runs over and opens the car door, "this is your brother, kei."

akiteru wants to touch his foot, to say hello the way he used to when kei was living in mom's belly, but kei is all bundled up, only his face showing. akiteru pats his head gently—very, very gently. "hello, kei." even though kei doesn't smile, akiteru does.

 

when kei is the age that akiteru was when they met and akiteru is twice that, they stand outside with their parents, watching the sky for a glimpse of the comet. mom said it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and dad said some people don't even get the chance in their lifetime. it's a special night and akiteru is excited, although not as excited as he was the night kei was born, which was also a once in a lifetime happening that not everyone gets. 

he dares to look down from the sky at his brother, who senses the gaze and turns to him. akiteru crouches down so they're eye level. "look up there, kei." akiteru looks at his own finger as he points, then back at kei. "do you know what that is?"

kei nods. "the moon."

"that's right!" it's a full moon, just like when kei was born; but of course kei wouldn't remember that, even if he got to see the moon that night. "that's us—that's the 'tsuki' in our name. we're the moons in the sky." he smiles and, looking up at the moon, kei does too.

"maybe on another planet." akiteru looks from kei's smile to the boy who lives next door, who is in high school already and knows a lot. "there's only one moon in the sky on this planet."

akiteru gets to his feet and studies the sky. the boy from next door is right: there's only one moon in their sky. then, he and kei can't both be the moon...

one of them will have to be something else.

kei is the moon. the moon itself said so the night he was born. 

akiteru glances down to see how much kei has understood: 

the way kei is looking at him right now, absorbing and reflecting his light, akiteru sees that he must be kei's sun.

 

for a while, in middle school, akiteru shines bright. 

sometimes when the ball is arcing up high as it comes over the net, there's a flash second where it's like a floating full moon; if akiteru were a setter, it would be his job on the court to lift the moon high.

he's not a setter, though. as he reaches out and spikes it, smashing it towards the ground, he tells himself the ball is not the moon.

 

as it turns out, akiteru is not a sun either.

he finds this out in high school but he doesn't tell anyone. not his mom and dad. not kei.

he tells kei other things, shining with sunlight borrowed from memories and imagination.

kei doesn't know it's not real sunlight. his smile still reflects radiant when he looks at akiteru.

 

one afternoon in akiteru's last year of high school, kei's first year of middle school, they look at each other across a volleyball court neither of them is standing on.

the sun falls from the sky. the moon goes dark.

 

as it turns out, that apocalyptic afternoon is the end of one world and the beginning of another. in this new world, akiteru plays volleyball again. when he looks at the ball coming over the net these days, it looks like nothing more and nothing less than a volleyball—and that's everything. akiteru grins when his palm makes contact, sending the ball back over. 

there's only one moon in this new world and it shines brightly in the night sky. akiteru looks up at it and smiles.

 

akiteru doesn't tell anyone he's going to the game. kei goes to the same high school akiteru did but he's actually a starter in his first year. when he comes out onto the court, he's wearing the sports glasses akiteru gave him. he doesn't notice akiteru watching him; he's too focused on the ball, on his teammates and their opponents—he's too focused on the game to notice his brother.

no one else sees it, probably, but there's a luminosity to kei, to his movements and the focus of his gaze. it's the sun inside kei. it's faint yet but that light is going to burn brighter one day. so much brighter.

even though kei doesn't smile, akiteru does.


End file.
